Mysteries of the Letters ש and ס

This will a be the first of a series of brief pieces on what we here believe is one of the greatest corruptions in the masoretic text of scripture: the swapping of the letters ש and ס in various words.

Mispelling a Hebrew word is not like misspelling an English word. If I misspell “House” as “Houshe” it is not only somewhat recognizable as its original word, but it also means absolutely nothing in its misspelled form. However, if you misspell the hebrew word יעד “y’wad” which means, “agreement, contract, marrige betrothal,” and render it as יער “y’war” it then means “honeycomb”. It does not simply look weird and mean nothing. In fact, the Hebrew language is designed in such a way that words can be synthesized and still have meaning, for each character means something, and the arrangement of them creates words, with all hebrew words being nothing more than compounds of other smaller words.

What is interesting, though, is that changing the letters ש and ס in a word often changes it from a spiritually good word to a spiritually bad word. The letter ש naturally has a “sh” sound, and the letter ס naturally has a “s” sound. These things were beautifully simple, yet the medieval pharisaic scribes thought it well to change much around and cause great confusion.

Anyway…

The first word we will look at is a very critical one: that which is translated in english as “Israel” and in modern Hebrew as “Yisra’el”.

Here is how it appears in the Masoretic text: יִשְׂרָאֵל

This word is a composite of both two words and three words, and we will look at them and their corrupted counterparts

Now the letter ש here is made to sound like an “s” by the placement of a little dot on left. The original language of the Eberyim did not have such a marker, but instead, it was added much later.

The Two Original Meanings

1) The word יִשְׂרָאֵל is a composite of ישר (YShR) and אל (AL) and this makes the phrase “made upright by Al” of “Straigtened by Al” or “Righteous by Al” these definitions make sense when looking at Genesis/Bereshith 32, since it is in this chapter that we see Yakub (Jacob) wrestling with YHWH, Who seems to have possessed a flesh body. Here Yakub is pinned down or bent about, but will not succumb. Therefore, when the day came, and YHWH blessed him, Yakub was released and made upright or straight, and even though his leg was severely injured (v. 25), it was made healed by YAH so Yakub could walk upright.
It is also by becoming Y’shral that we are seen correct or righteous (YShR) by YHWH, and it is in this name that the covenant people is called.

Interstingly, though, should we say יסר (YSR) rather than ישר (YShR) we are saying “Punished, chastised, (literally with physical blows and wounds) and as well, instructed or taught through punishment.” Albeit this is true for us, It should not be our goal to be punished by YHWH for wrongs, but to be seen as right by atonement, and by seeking to keep all of His commands so that we need less and less chastisement. We should seek to be right and please YAH, not seek to be punished by him, for that comes by transgression.

2) יִשְׂרָאֵל is also a composite of three words: י (Y) שר (ShR) אל (Al) which means “He is prince with Al”, as well as “He prevails Al/He escapes Al) In these senses respectively, Y’shral will reign with YAH for 1000 years; Y’shral will overcome the trials of this life which are set to us by YAH; and finally, Y’shral will escape the final judgement of the world by YHWH. Also, Y’shral can another meaning along the lines of “He (in the womb lives by/has been born to) Al”, as another meaning of the word שר is “an umbilical cord”, and this directly reflects what Yahushwa taught, as well as the rest of the scriptures.
Also, שרה (ShRaH) means “Queen”. If YAH is king, and we are the bride, this makes us spiritually as a queen; for His bride will be all of those who bear the Set-apart Spirit.

The Corrupted Meanings

Now, if we corrupt the letter ש to be as a ס, then these are the definitions we get:

1) יסר (YSR) אל (AL) This will mean: Punished by AL. as was stated earlier, this should not be our goal.2) י (Y) סר/סרר (SRaR/SR) אל (AL): This leaves two major groups of meanings: one is “He is sorrowfully angry with Al and the other is “He is rebellious/a revolter against Al” or “He is an enemy to Al”. None of these things describe YHWH’s elect.